Audiovisual jazz expression

Sunday

Feb 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The definition of jazz may have changed over time - from something with swing and improvisation to a style that reflects musicians inspired by everything from classical concertos to The Who - but as San Joaquin Delta College instructor and jazz musician Brian Kendrick notes, "at the heart of it is self expression and improvisation and the desire to interact and collaborate."

Lori Gilbert

The definition of jazz may have changed over time - from something with swing and improvisation to a style that reflects musicians inspired by everything from classical concertos to The Who - but as San Joaquin Delta College instructor and jazz musician Brian Kendrick notes, "at the heart of it is self expression and improvisation and the desire to interact and collaborate."

The emphasis is on the latter for this year's Delta Jazz Series, which opens Wednesday with a blending of visual, performing and culinary arts.

A gala reception for "The Art of Jazz," the new exhibit in the Horton Gallery, from 5 to 7 p.m. precedes the opening show, a 7:30 p.m. performance by the Patricia Barber Quartet in Tillie Lewis Theatre. Food by culinary students of chef Mark Berkner and LoCA wines will be served at the gallery show that features pieces by 10 artists working in such media as paint, ceramics and aluminum prints.

"It's really about the whole character of jazz music, the improvisational influence of jazz, the impressionist influence on both jazz and art," said gallery director Jan Marlese. "We have a really big variety."

Vibrant colors in paintings are muted by the earth-tone ceramics and pieces in bronze and aluminum.

Among the unique pieces is a historical recording done on a medical X-ray.

"During World War II there was an underground market for jazz from the United States and England to Germany and Russia," Marlese said. "Music was recorded on discarded X-rays. You can see the circular form of the album."

The exhibit, which runs until March 21, was inspired by Delta College's annual Jazz Series, and the desire for various campus artists to collaborate on a project.

A February-March gallery show tied in nicely with the annual musical performances in Delta's theaters, and holding a gala with food by the culinary students provided more collaboration.

The visual arts show doesn't end in the Horton Gallery, though.

Backing the Patricia Barber Quartet - as well as future series performers - are three 11-by-7-foot murals designed and painted by art professor Mario Moreno and his students Vicente Tomas, Marco Junez and Lily Dircksen.

The paintings, Moreno said, are the result of a conversation he had with Marlese, but the inspiration came from music. Specifically, they came from the music of James Miley, a jazz musician, composer and professor of music and jazz studies at Willamette University in Salem, Ore. A grant from the Stockton Arts Commission enabled both the murals and musical compositions to be commissioned.

"I was listening to lot of music that was going to be played from the composer as we were painting it," said Moreno, who has been creating murals since the 1970s. "It has a feel to it, the balance we're trying to achieve between the music and the mural. We didn't want the mural to be too dominant or the music being too dominant. It was a true artistic collaboration between two mediums."

He and his students sketched, then Moreno put the ideas together into the three panels, which are designed as a trio, but can stand alone or in pairs. They're done in acrylic, much of it painted by hand.

"In some passages there's some (solemnity) to it," Moreno said. "Some things are deeply about jazz, yet spiritual. It's a convergence of both. It has a kind of jumpy beat in some passages. A confluence of all those things coming together is what I was feeling as the mural was coming together. We have some passive areas where you can get lost in there. Hopefully, there are some areas where you can feel the quickness and the beat as well."

Although the mural was shaped by Miley's new work, which the Brian Kendrick Big Band will premiere on March 5 at the Art of Jazz Concert for Kids, and again on March 21 at the Tom Harrell Quintet Concert, it reflects a broader representation.

"Some of the imagery is on campus," Moreno said. "There's a sculptured piece on campus of a musician, so I incorporated the campus, the student drawings, some (musical) symbols, some indigenous images reflective of dance. I tried to bring it all together in the paintings."